Post-Update Blog For Sun and Hearth Chapter 7 (A Light in a Dark Cave.) · 11:32pm Mar 14th, 2017
Post-update blog for Sun and Hearth chapter 7, "A Light in a Dark Cave," below the cut. Catch up first to avoid spoilers!
Ending Credits
Random Trivia:
This chapter was almost called “The Magic Weapon Tree,” but I felt like that was both too spoilery and too irreverent for the tone of the fic. But it might need to be a side story, if I can think of a plot to go with it.
Interesting to note (though unintentional) that calling it the Magic Weapon Tree gives it an association with each of the three tribes.
This idea actually came from a comment on the piece of the fic I posted last December. Vladspellbinder made a comment about being curious as to what actually happened to unfreeze them. I knew at the time it was harmony magic, and that much wasn’t going to be too interesting on its own, but then, thinking about it, I realized that considering where I had placed Everfree, it made perfect goddamn sense that it was the same cave.
I think it’s a cool detail that the painting Celestia keeps in the throne room chamber is of Star Swirl befriending Scorpan, given the kinds of ponies and beings who approach her there.
World Building:
My Equestria in this fic has six major identified kinds of magic floating around: Pony magic, destiny magic (including cutie marks,) harmony/friendship magic (Hearth’s Warming Spell and EoH,) chaos magic (Discord,) love magic (The Crystal Heart, changelings,) and dark magic (Sombra, the Alicorn Amulet.)
(You can read these as three dichotomies: Harmony/Chaos, Love/Hate (Dark), and Physical (Pony)/Soul (Destiny.))
There are also a number of lesser kinds as well, including time magic, dream magic, various kinds of wild or unclassified magic in plants and animals and locations. Some of these are modified versions of the major types, while others seem to be blended in such a way that they’re totally new.
Almost none of this is well understood, even after thousands of years of study. In fact, a pony with a deep and intuitive understanding of one of the major kinds of magic has come along exactly three times in history: Princess Astra [1], Princess Cadance, and Princess Twilight Sparkle.
That’s primarily because magic isn’t totally stable. It’s a psycho-reactive force-- ponies can change the nature of magic, create new magics, or imbue or bring into existence magic items or locations with thoughts, feelings, or actions. While there’s a base energy underneath that allows it to be studied, in a way, and spells can be written as a way of regularly producing an effect, the right ponies at the right time with the right thoughts can also produce an entirely new and possibly unique effect. To truly understand it requires a combination of intuition and intense study.
So, beyond learning pre-existing spells, magical study is a mess of trying to identify and classify exactly which magic is doing what and why, and figure out if there’s some way to use that information to further understanding in general. While it’s not common by any means, sometimes even a magic scholar has to accept that an effect is… just kind of happening. (See also: Pinkie Pie.)
Obviously the major way this affects the plot is Cookie and his immortality, but I’ll cover that more later after the story has added some info.
[1] Princess Astra was Celestia and Luna’s mother, killed during Tierk’s first attack. Known as “The Pegasus Who Touched the Stars,” she mastered Destiny magic, some of which is part of Celestia and Luna’s magic.
Questions to Answer:
Do you think the Elements of Harmony are capable of causing damage to Equestria or innocent ponies, either directly or indirectly? Can they be used for an unrighteous cause?
Yes, if the Bearers believe it needed to be done. The Bearers were chosen to wield them.
I've long assumed that the Element's of Harmony have dramatically less power than most think, or rather that their power is extremely focused and particular; they're more like a needle than a blunderbuss, and dispense harmony magic. If their surroundings or bearers aren't actually… 'harmonious' for lack of a better term, then a great deal of 'damage' could be done depending on your perspective.
If we take the comics as canon, then yes.
Myself, I consider them Officially Sanctioned Fanfics, so to me, no, the Elements can't be turned evil. But hurt innocent ponies? Yes. They did that to Celestia when they banished Luna instead of cleansing her.
I had never heard that Crystal Cave song before, but I like it!
Nah. Clearly they're meant to help the Tree of Harmony grow by promoting harmony in the land and sending out little seedlings for more harmonious ponies to live in. Friendship is Symbiosis!
I don't really think that the Elements of Harmony are actually intelligent in the sense of people - I don't think that they know what Equestria is - but I don't think they could really be used by people who wanted to use them for ill, nor would they work on someone who was good.
Having read Hard Reset and it's various sequels, yes. Totally. 100%. Also they're kind of creepy with how they'll casually rewrite reality or an individual's personality if you're not fitting Harmony's standards.
Yes, they did already twice, impeding Nighmare Moon take her rightful place as eternal ruler of Equestria.
XD, nah, I think they work in a magical sense of "all that is good" rather than be object that can be "triggered" at will. There was that really good saga of Hard Reset and it's sequels, of Eakin, If I don't remember incorrectly (spoilers) the elements have their own will, and in the end are kinda the villains, since they have something like a super strict definition of harmony that includes no chaos, and it's kind of no freedom or something like that (I don't remember exactly) but overall I liked the idea of the elements being antagonist
Insert the 'senpai noticed me' joke of your choice here.
On another matter it never occurred to me that the cave they almost died in was the same cave with The Tree in it but it's kinda of blinding obvious now. You could say it grew from the seed of friendship planted that night.
As for the EoH causing harm I think that depends on to what level they take "harmony" to. Taken to far the concept of "harmony" is just as dangerous as anything else taken to an extreme.
Harmony might be able to do harm through overcompensation, an attempt to rebalance the scales that ends up driving the once-lighter one through the metaphorical table. Of course, that's based on my own interpretation of harmony magic, which is more a fulcrum and middle ground combining and mediating all extremes. Your take would be frighteningly easy to weaponize, given how it directly opposes chaos. The phrase "mind slave" comes to mind. Kind, loyal, honest, and so forth mind slaves, but mind slaves.
Depends. Is this story modelled after British fantasy, in which magic is a metaphor for morality, or after American fantasy, in which magic is a metaphor for technology?
You could say this distinction hasn't mattered in a long while, as every significant British fantasist since at least Pratchett has used the American model.
But then you could also say it never did, because to Americans technology is morality: every technological innovation since the Republic's founding has prompted a powerful moral argument, with different factions seeing the technology as either good or evil.
I say the distinction has mattered and still does matter, because though both approaches ultimately address the matter of right and wrong, and can have literary elements in common, they are still philosophically and literarily distinct.
Is the power of the Tree of Harmony a metaphor for the power of morality as such, or for the power to choose between good and evil (without which morality loses meaning)?
I don't know. You do.
I'm not sure about the answer to your question, but I am looking forward to a possible formal explanation of Celestia's losing attunement with them!
I apologize in advance for the wall of text, but this is a
genuinely complicated question and my own meandering method of thinking makes answering such a question succinctly a rather difficult endeavor. First, let me say I had never really thought about it that deeply before, focusing more on the actions of the ponies who wielded the elements than the elements themselves. After some mental dredging and reading through the comments of those who came before me, I see the elements as, if they are indeed intelligent it would be an alien sort of intelligence that cannot be comprehended by mere mortals nor can it understand the physical world in turn. As far as their ability to cause harm, as others have mentioned it depends on how they understand the word harmony, taken to extremes, it could have dire consequences for all. And finally, as to being abused I don't think so, think about the episode where Queen Chrysalis made voodoo evil versions of the Mane Six, when Evil Twilight tried to take control of the elements, they responded to the chaotic magic turning them back into the wood from whence they came. Now this is merely arguing about a clearly villainous character trying to get their hands on the elements for nefarious purposes. Is it possible that they could be misused by Twilight and her friends, say in a misguided attempt to do good, or perhaps a mutual bout of Twilighting, depends on the author. I personally like the idea that someone else suggested about them acting kind of like a fulcrum, a force of balance, so how they respond to different scenarios might be based upon the bearer(s), the target, maybe even the time of year.